Special Features

GameSpy's 25 Favorite PC Games of the '90s

Ahh, Quake -- a game that was so addictive, an entire annual convention was dedicated to it. So what made this first-person shooter so special? Well, while the single-player campaign was forgettable at best and downright terrible at worst, the game ushered in a new era of multiplayer action, due in no small part to the rise of the Internet (fact: this very site began as PlanetQuake). At last, players didn't need to lug their PCs to LAN parties; instead, they could finally embrace their inner shut-in and just hop online whenever they wanted a match.

While a number of notable multiplayer-centric first-person shooters preceded Quake, none of them grabbed the gaming public in quite the same way. The combination of frenetic, lightning-fast gameplay and labyrinthine maps made winning feel like an accomplishment, so it was no surprise that it quickly became popular among competitive gamers. Without Quake, it's unlikely competitive gaming leagues would even exist in their current form.

Will says: I completely forgot that Quake even had a single-player component, as all I really played was the multiplayer. I played so much that on some evenings (well, it was more like early mornings) I'd go to bed and still see myself running through the maps when I closed my eyes. While I wasn't the best Quake player in the world (or even in my own dorm room), I still had a blast, ensuring a lifetime of multiplayer gaming in my future.